Well, we just went to Best Buy so Ver Bruggen could buy the Playstation 3. One word of advice: Don’t. It’s totally not as good as it was hyped up to be.
We opened up the box, and the actual console is nice and flashy, nice eye candy. We plugged it in, set it all up. The system didn’t come prepackaged with HD support, like the XBOX 360. Next we checked out the controller. It’s the same design as the PS2, but there’s LEDs to tell you which controller you are. It’s also wired, the stock controller is freakin’ wired, with a 3ft or so cable.
The power switch is still in the back, with the standby button up front. Took us a bit to figure that out. You can at least turn it on and off via the controller.
We finally got it up an running, did our fair share of bitching about the controller. Which, when the system is first set up without the controller plugged in, you have to press the PS button. Well the instructions flew by fast enough that you couldn’t figure out which language was English, which happened to be third on the first (or second?) splash of languages.
We configured the timezone, then the time. It showed an image of an arrow pointing left to continue, so we figured it meant start, then the PS button. Turns out it was the D-pad. I guess it could be because we’re used to XBOX, but still.
FINALLY we got to the main console. The PS3 came with an updates CD, so we decided to update. Ver Bruggen popped in the disc and went to the section that loads the CD. Well you can’t access it from there, you have to go to the system’s tab. I figured that out instantly, just because it’s common nerdsense.
He bought Unreal 3, it looked appealing. When you first pop in a game, it has to download information to the HDD, no instant first play. I guess it’s a neat feature if it makes the game play smooth, less disc reading.
Over all, there’s nothing too flashy about the PS3 that knocks XBOX out. At $400, it’s a decent price for a Blu-ray DVD player.
